NBC Saturday Night at the Movies was the first regularly scheduled network movie night to feature post-1948 films when it premiered in September 1961. The movies were broadcast uncut and unedited and longer films that would not fit in the regular 9-11PM time slot were allowed to run past 11PM.

The third season premiered on September 21st, 1963 and ended on September 26th, 1964. It included 30 films and 23 summer repeats, several of which were films that had originally aired as installments of NBC Monday Night at the Movies.

Due to coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination, the November 23rd, 1963 broadcast was pre-empted. Imitation General was due to air that evening; it eventually aired in January 1964.

Season 3: 1963-1964

Ep. #

Title

Airdate

Format

61.

The Seven Year Itch

09/21/1963

Color

62.

The Journey

09/28/1963

Color

63.

Ask Any Girl

10/05/1963

Color

64.

The Asphalt Jungle

10/12/1963

B&W

65.

The Tall Men

10/19/1963

Color

66.

Something of Value

10/26/1963

B&W

67.

Let’s Make Love

11/02/1963

Color

68.

The Diary of Anne Frank

11/09/1963

B&W

69.

Untamed

11/16/1963

Color

PRE-EMPTED: Coverage of President Kennedy’s Funeral

11/23/1963

70.

Count Your Blessings

11/30/1963

Color

71.

The Left Hand of God

12/07/1963

Color

72.

The Opposite Sex

12/14/1963

Color

73.

A Man Called Peter

12/21/1963

Color

74.

The Secret Partner

12/28/1963

B&W

75.

Daddy Long Legs

01/04/1964

Color

76.

Imitation General

01/11/1964

B&W

77.

The Naked Spur

01/18/1964

Color

78.

Until They Sail

01/25/1964

B&W

79.

Lust for Life

02/01/1964

Color

80.

The Band Wagon

02/08/1964

Color

81.

Edge of the City

02/15/1964

B&W

82.

The Story of Three Loves

02/22/1964

Color

83.

Violent Saturday

02/29/1964

Color

84.

Rally Round the Flag, Boys!

03/07/1964

Color

85.

Black Widow

03/14/1964

Color

86.

Man on Fire

03/21/1964

B&W

87.

Wild River

03/28/1964

Color

88.

Fourteen Hours

04/04/1964

B&W

89.

The Vintage

04/11/1964

Color

90.

Girl in the Red Velvet Swing

04/18/1964

Color

*Summer Repeats Begin*

REP

The Reluctant Debutante*

04/25/1964

Color

REP

The Seven Year Itch

05/02/1964

Color

REP

Executive Suite*

05/09/1964

B&W

REP

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing*

05/16/1964

Color

REP

Untamed

05/23/1964

Color

REP

Something of Value

05/30/1964

B&W

REP

The Opposite Sex

06/06/1964

Color

REP

The Asphalt Jungle

06/13/1964

B&W

REP

The Left Hand of God

06/20/1964

Color

REP

Lust for Life

06/27/1964

Color

REP

Let’s Make Love

07/04/1964

Color

REP

Edge of the City

07/11/1964

B&W

REP

View from Pompey’s Head*

07/18/1964

Color

REP

Until They Sail

07/25/1964

B&W

REP

A Man Called Peter

08/01/1964

Color

REP

Rains of Ranciphur

08/08/1964

Color

REP

The Journey

08/15/1964

Color

REP

Rally Round the Flag, Boys

08/22/1964

Color

REP

Wild River

08/29/1964

Color

REP

Naked Spur

09/05/1964

Color

REP

Diary of Anne Frank

09/12/1964

B&W

REP

The Mating Game*

09/19/1964

Color

REP

The Tall Men

09/26/1964

Color

*Originally aired as installments of NBC Monday Night at the Movies

NBC Saturday Night at the Movie remained on the air until September 1978. It has reappeared sporadically ever since.

10 Comments

This was the first season when more than one studio’s “cache” of post-1949 films was featured on NBC’s movie nights. As previously noted, once 20th Century-Fox started making money by leasing several of their more recent films to the network, MGM was the next studio to “take the plunge”, and allow some of their ’50s “classics” [“Executive Suite”, “The Opposite Sex”, “The Asphalt Jungle”, “The Band Wagon”, et. al.] to be shown on NBC. MCA/Universal would take an even bigger step in the fall of 1964 by producing three original feature-length movies {under the “Project 120” banner} for the Saturday movie night [however, the first one, a remake of 1946’s “The Killers”, was deemed “too violent” by NBC, and that was given a theatrical release instead].

“Edge of the City” {February 15, 1964} was a sort of “return engagement”; this 1957 MGM film had its origin as Robert Alan Aurthur’s “A Man Is Ten Feet Tall”, the last scheduled episode of NBC’s “PHILCO TELEVISION PLAYHOUSE” on October 2, 1955 [a kinescope exists]; Sidney Poitier repeated his acclaimed TV role, but Don Murray’s part was played by John Cassavettes in the movie.

The bulk of the 20th Century-Fox films shown this season (if not all of them) wound up by the mid-to-late 1960’s on WABC-TV (Channel 7) in New York after the studio syndicated them following the expiration of NBC’s rights. The Marilyn Monroe film “Let’s Make Love,” for example, was featured in some “Marilyn Monroe Weeks” on “The 4:30 Movie” in the early and mid-1970’s.

Meanwhile, the films from MGM were later scattered amongst two syndicated packages offered by the studio: “MGM/6” (90 films, combo off-network and first-run, the most famous, or infamous, in the latter category being “Lolita”; first made available late 1965 and in New York snapped up by WABC) and “MGM/7” (145 films, ditto; first made available in 1968; in NYC, split between WNBC-TV [Channel 4] and WOR-TV [Channel 9]).

Of the MGM titles that aired this season on “SNATM,” the following were made part of the MGM/6 package: “The Asphalt Jungle,” “Executive Suite,” “Imitation General,” “Lust for Life,” “The Mating Game,” “Something of Value,” and “Until They Sail.” Those that were later among MGM/7 were: “The Band Wagon,” “Count Your Blessings,” “Man on Fire,” “The Naked Spur,” “The Opposite Sex,” “The Secret Partner,” “The Vintage,” “Ask Any Girl,” “Edge of the City,” “The Journey,” “The Reluctant Debutante,” and “The Story of Three Loves” (the first seven going to WNBC, the last five to WOR).

I appreciate your pointing out those “packages”, W.B. Not only did those studios make money leasing those films to NBC, they also cleaned up by parceling them to local stations after their network runs. And to think those very studios were so adamant about TV, when those films were originally released….

Very interesting log to look at! a look back to the early 1960’s,saw many of these movies when originally aired on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies especially,August 4,1962 repeat of: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL,that i vividly remember watching during summer school vacation,wrote down in my 1962 diary. I would hope you would information on more seasons in a future date! Thank you very much for information presently listed!

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